Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Why Jesus is Magnetized to Broken People | The Gospels | Luke 5:27–39

Episode Date: March 26, 2026

Why do we assume Jesus wants the cleaned-up version of us? Why do we hide our wounds, sin, and shame from him? What if the very places we want to conceal are the places Jesus most wants to heal? In today’s episode, Patrick shares how Jesus’s call to Levi and his willingness to sit at the table with tax collectors and sinners reveal that he comes not for the healthy but as a royal healer for the sick. Read the Bible with us in 2026! This year, we’re exploring the Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Download your reading plan now. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it so that others can find it, too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passage: Luke 5:27–39

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Patrick Miller. It's not unusual to hear about celebrities doing charity work. I say it's not unusual to hear about it because they almost always do it in front of cameras for the public eye. Now, I'm not saying that these celebrities don't serve orphans or the homeless when no one's watching. I'm just saying that they seem to like it best when people do. Now, of course, there's going to be exceptions to that rule. In 1997, Keanu Reeves passed a homeless man begging in an alley. He walked into a nearby convenience store.

He bought some food and water and returned to the homeless man. But then he proceeded to do something strange. He sat down with the homeless man and he talked with him, not just for a few minutes, but for hours. The only reason we know this story isn't because Keanu shared it. It's because a paparazzi spotted him from a distance and shot pictures of him the entire time. Kianu had no idea.

In the decades since, he's become somewhat famous for just being a sincerely nice down-to-earth person. But when you look at those pictures of him, when he was a famous young movie star, and he's sitting in an alley on a dirty mat with a homeless man listening, if you look at those pictures, you'll probably feel something.

That's because it's so unusual for those who are high and lifted up to talk with those who are lowly. And when we see that happens, something in our soul sings. It's like our hearts are recalling a story that we were made to hear, a story that we longed to hear, a story that we need to hear. And that's because we were made to hear such a story. In Luke 5, we read a story just like this. Let's pick up in verse 27. After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. Okay,

let's pause and ask for a second. Who were tax collector? Well, to the average Jew, they were traitors. And if they felt this way, they honestly had pretty good reason. Tax collectors extorted money from their fellow Jewish people to give it to their oppressors, the Romans. Worse yet, they often skimmed off the top to make themselves rich in the process. Now, here's the deal. We may ignore the homeless or even look down on them or quietly think ourselves better than

them. But tax collectors in Jesus' day, they face far worse than our negligence of the homeless in our day. You see, tax collectors were actively hated. They were despised for betraying their people and their God to the Romans. So what does Jesus do when he sees a tax collector plying his trade? Does Jesus condemn him? He certainly could have. And again, with good reason, the tax collectors did what was wrong and sinful. But the story continues, and Jesus speaks to Levi the tax collector. Verse 27, Follow me, Jesus said to him,

and Levi got up, left everything, and followed him. Then Levi had a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. Levi, who would later be renamed Matthew and write the Gospel of Matthew, well, Levi in this story, he doesn't even hesitate. When the king of the universe comes by and stoops down to speak with him, the lowly, the despised, the hated. What does he do? Well, he doesn't despise Jesus and said he's magnetized to Jesus. He wants to be with him. And in response, what does he do? He doesn't just follow Jesus. He

throws a party. And he doesn't just throw any party. He invites all of his friends who are naturally other sinners and outcasts, the tax collectors, people like him. And he says, hey, you guys all need come and meet Jesus. And does Jesus refuse the offer? Does the king reject the humble? Does he reject the lowly and the lost? No, Jesus joins right in. You see, as much as broken people are magnetized to Jesus, it also seems like Jesus is magnetized to broken people. But do you know who is repelled by Jesus, who's not magnetized to him at all? Well, let's see, verse 30. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect, complained to his disciples. Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?

You see, it's the most high, the most respected, the most upright, the most righteous people who wants nothing to do with Jesus. And that's because he's contagious with all the sin and mess of the people that he seems to love so much. The Pharisees are telling Jesus, if you want to be big and important, you need to stop pinging out with the rabble. Don't be such a fool. Well, Jesus has no time for this. Luke continues. Jesus answered them, it is not the healthy who need a doctor but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Jesus is telling us who he is and who we are. He is the

healer. We are the sick. He is truly the high and lifted up king. We are the poor and the needy. But far from despising us for our sins and our failures and our weaknesses, he comes to us as a royal healer. He comes to us and says, you are broken, broken by the world, broken by the sins of your parents, broken by your own sin, but it's okay because I'm the great healer and I want nothing more than to restore you. I'm not ashamed of your sin. I'm not afraid you're contagious. I'm not repelled by you. I'm drawn towards you because I love you.

And that's why that picture of Keanu Reeves is so moving to me, not because I see myself in Keanu, but because I see myself in the homeless man, and I see Jesus in Keanu Reeves. You see, Jesus is the one who walks past me in my pain and doesn't ignore me, but instead feeds me and clothes me and takes the time to know me. Do you know that you too are made for this story,

that Jesus wants to do for you, what he did for Levi, that he won't march past you because of your sin, but he'll stop, and he'll smile, and he'll forgive, and he'll even dare to say to you, follow me. The king does that even now. So receive his calling, welcome his healing. Tell all your friends, Jesus came to heal the sick, so bring your wounds and sins and pains before him.